CHAPTER XIII
MIGRATION AND EMPIRE BUILDING
IN June, 1921, on hearing of the death of the Hon. James
Page, the Federal Parliament of Australia adjourned. For
more than fifteen years Mr. Page had been returned, without
a break, by the same constituency, to the Australian House
of Representatives, where he had held responsible Govern-
ment posts, including that of Chief Whip: and so sterling
had been his honesty, so equitable his conduct, so distin-
guished his services, that he had won the esteem of the
whole House. He was a man of whom the Commonwealth
was proud; and, if one might judge from Press reports at
his death, he was the most beloved Australian legislator of
his day.
But whence came the man to whose career such tributes
were paid? Page himself was never too proud to reveal the
facts of his early life. As a lad he was a waif on London
streets. Nay, worse! He already was learning the trade of
a thief when Dr. Barnardo intervened and trained him for
a useful career. More than once from public platforms Page
told the story of his rescue.
In Cable Street, East London, he, with the help of another
urchin, was one day striving to rob a drunken French-
man carrying a money-box, when Barnardo intercepted
him, and finding him homeless and destitute, admitted
him to the Stepney Home,
Following a careful training, young Page went abroad,
and, after serving with distinction in the Boer War, became
a settler in Australia, where, having amassed a fortune of
some £50,000, he entered Parliament as a tribune of the
Common People. And how nobly he served them all
Australia knows. The Prime Minister, under whom he was
Chief Whip, described him as "one of the most faithful and
trustworthy colleagues the head of any Government could